We are heartbroken by the Supreme Court of the United States’ decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/19-1392_6j37.pdf, in which the Court overruled Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey.
This decision, in the works since the Senate blocked President Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland in 2016 and all but inevitable with the election of Donald Trump, will harm the most vulnerable among us, especially people of color and people without sufficient income who live in Southern states. We join Justice Breyer’s dissent decrying the certain “result of today’s decision…: the curtailment of women’s rights, and of their status as free and equal citizens. Yesterday, the Constitution guaranteed that a woman confronted with an unplanned pregnancy could (within reasonable limits) make her own decision about whether to bear a child, with all the life-transforming consequences that act involves. And in thus safeguarding each woman’s reproductive freedom, the Constitution also protected ‘[t]he ability of women to participate equally in [this Nation’s] economic and social life.’ Casey, 505 U. S., at 856. But no longer.”
As constitutional lawyers, we will do everything we can to narrow the impact of Dobbs, including its threat to the rights of LGBTQIA+ people, through amicus work, advocacy and otherwise. As individuals, we will march for women’s right to choose and we will support groups fighting for the rights of poor women to access healthcare of their choosing. And we as a firm will support you in pursuing this important work, while continuing to respect the individual views of all who work here with regard to this ultimately private issue. We today are joining a San Francisco Bar Association consortium of law firms and the City Attorney committed to providing legal services to women who stand to lose their rights to reproductive justice.
We will not go back, not now, not ever.